The most hateful torment for men is to have knowledge of everything but power over nothing.

No human life, not even the life of a hermit, is possible without a world which directly or indirectly testifies to the presence of other human beings.

Natural rights is simple nonsense: natural and imprescriptible rights, rhetorical nonsense—nonsense upon stilts.

Envy is the basis of democracy.

The first requirement of a statesman is that he be dull.

I am invariably of the politics of the people at whose table I sit, or beneath whose roof I sleep.

The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.

The best of all rulers is but a shadowy presence to his subjects.

Do that which consists in taking no action, and order will prevail.

You have all the characteristics of a popular politician: a horrible voice, bad breeding, and a vulgar manner.

The spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure it is right.

I work for a government I despise for ends I think criminal.